A noção de comunidade de fala para a etnografia da comunicação: problematizações

Abstract

Th is article presents the partial results of a survey of a community in which the actions of an NGO, aiming at the cultural and identity empowerment of the community in which it operates, interferes in and through social practices. Social norms of use of language construct an unifying element among people, and therefore, a cultural identity. In our view, this is the very process of building a speech community, since it sets new standards of linguistic conduct and language use. We propose, based on this survey, to questioning the notion of “speech community,” proposed by Hymes, as a limited notion, which does not always realize the complexity of the contexts in which issues of belonging and identity come into play as the signifi cant elements that interfere directly in the criteria used by these defi nitions.